Retro games and emulation - Discuss retro shit in case you're stuck in the past or a hipster

[Two Dollars]

The emudeck is a bit of a shitshow.
the installer keeps bloating your library with entries for each games for each system, and all it does is a glorified "sudo pacman" command. both PCSX2 and Duckstation have bigpicture mode and can get covers, and retroarch runs decently. Maybe it can be useful for mame or yuzu, but then again you're better installing both separately. And good luck getting rid of it. I guess to each their own, but it's pretty useless imo.

It reminds me of LaunchBox and other similar programs which I never understood the appeal of.

If you’re on Windows, just use RetroBat. It comes with RetroArch but other emulators are a one-click install, configuration is thorough but completely optional, and there’s a good selection of built-in shaders and overlays. I’ve tried several different frontends and methods of emulating games, and RetroBat is by far the easiest to both set up and use. You can even boot PC games through it, though loading something like Steam or EGS games is a bit of a crapshoot, and you’re better off using their proprietary launchers.

I'm going to use the NES as an example—unless you're a shitter who downloaded each ROM individually from something like EmuParadise or something, if you're into emulation you probably have basically all of them but you really don't want all 1000+ NES games (not including multi-carts like SMB/Duck Hunt, multiple versions, test carts, PAL versions) in ANY program beyond the basic Finder/Windows Explorer, partially because 90% of them you'll never play for more than five minutes.

I’ve gone through a few different rom organizers and library setups, and I’ve found that my preferred method is to simply download a full set, then pick and choose your favorites from that. It’s so much more satisfying to have a library of 100 games that you know you like than to have 3000 roms of mostly crap that you have to dig through. And if you decide you want to add something later, you can always quickly pull that rom out from the full set, or put the full set in an “Other Games” folder or something.

 

[Shroom King]

The below article created so much seethe that it was deleted from the original website, and retro forums worldwide were flooded with wannabe electrical engineers saying the author was full of shit.

https://archive.vn/I6B51

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

The below article created so much seethe that it was deleted from the original website, and retro forums worldwide were flooded with wannabe electrical engineers saying the author was full of shit.

https://archive.vn/I6B51

View attachment 5602899

View attachment 5602909

we have found a rare based frog, ladies and germs

 

[Sicko Hunter]

It's still so crazy to me that the original version of the PS3 was backwards compatible with both the PS1 and PS2. I don't think that's been done before or since it came out. Being able to to play three generations of games on a single console without modding or using E-shops that make you rebuy games is basically unheard of and will never happen again because of greed.

 

[The Lawgiver]

It's still so crazy to me that the original version of the PS3 was backwards compatible with both the PS1 and PS2. I don't think that's been done before or since it came out. Being able to to play three generations of games on a single console without modding or using E-shops that make you rebuy games is basically unheard of and will never happen again because of greed.

The gameboy advance and the 3ds TECHNICALLY fall into a similar thing but it's not the same because the amount of power difference between those consoles wasn't much.

 

[Two Dollars]

It's still so crazy to me that the original version of the PS3 was backwards compatible with both the PS1 and PS2. I don't think that's been done before or since it came out. Being able to to play three generations of games on a single console without modding or using E-shops that make you rebuy games is basically unheard of and will never happen again because of greed.

Series X can play four generations.

 

[Pissmaster]

The gameboy advance and the 3ds TECHNICALLY fall into a similar thing but it's not the same because the amount of power difference between those consoles wasn't much.

Yup, to an extent.

The Game Boy Advance, DS, and 3DS all had the same CPU family. The 3DS could run both DS and GBA games natively thanks to this, but it was squandered. The 3DS's DS compatibility was only used for DSi software and DS cartridges, and only literally two DS cartridge games were converted and sold digitally. I think everywhere got WarioWare Touched, but then Japan also got Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (aka Dark Conflict). But only as a Club Nintendo bonus. Because the Japanese version was finished, but unreleased on cartridge.

And then the GBA support was only with those "ambassador games", the ten GBA games given out for early adopters of the 3DS. That was it. Once the 3DS was hacked, the floodgates opened and almost every GBA game ran great when sideloaded. They could have sold them on the eShop, but they didn't, because that's our Nintendo.

Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U have the same processor family thing going on, but of course, Gamecube support on Wii U exists only for hackers.

Series X can play four generations.

Yeah, kinda sorta, as long as your 360 & original games are on this list. They're sort of like barebones ports, some games getting small enhancements here and there. But at least you don't have to pay any fees to play your old games.

 

[Stasi]

Some mad lad ported Tomb Raider (or at least a demo version) to the 32x, same guy that ported it to the GBA a while ago.

There is also that Doom project that turned Doom 32x from a steaming pile of shit into a decent port.

I don't know what level of autism you need to port and patch ancient games like this but I kinda dig it, want to see more of this kind of thing.

 

[X Prime]

I'm glad some autists actually do good. Most of the ones I see who would have done stuff like that in the past got into doing Touhou fangames or some nonsense.

 

[Carpenter Trout]

It's still so crazy to me that the original version of the PS3 was backwards compatible with both the PS1 and PS2. I don't think that's been done before or since it came out. Being able to to play three generations of games on a single console without modding or using E-shops that make you rebuy games is basically unheard of and will never happen again because of greed.

Through modding you can play PS2 games on Slim models as well. It's quite nice seeing Gt4 playing in 1080i

Some mad lad ported Tomb Raider (or at least a demo version) to the 32x, same guy that ported it to the GBA a while ago.

ah, that's OpenLara, a FOSS engine to play PlayStation 1 Tomb Raider games. So far, only some levels of the first game are actually playable, other levels are just sort of a model viewer.
It's on the same vein as those people behind OpenGOAL, basically a decompiled (and recompiled) Jak & Daxter port on PC.
There are also decompiled versions of Mario 64 and Zelda Ocarina of Time, and some people have also revived some PS2 games.
Although for others, like Gran Turismo 4, they'd better off decompiling the whole thing since you need to use a very specific iso, and the servers will not work most of the times regardless.
In fact, I think there's gonna be more decompiling project I've missed.
For CMR2.0 you just need Silent Patch, as far as I know.

Also go play Veloren.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I don't know what level of autism you need to port and patch ancient games like this but I kinda dig it, want to see more of this kind of thing.

Look up Atari 2600 homebrew. There are a bunch of nutters that remade various infamous bad ports. There are at least two versions of PacMan. One that is a full port, and one that fits on the original 4k cart.

 

[BananaSplit²]

Turns out that I have to use Retroarch in order to properly emulate PSP games on the Steam Deck since the flatpak release has issues to recognize proper fonts, especially Japanese characters. The PPSSPP core seems to be at least up-to-date as Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3 (Disaster Report 3) doesn't get the character selection freeze bug that was plaguing its emulation for a long time.

Looks like I'm pretty much left with PCSX2 as the sole standalone emulator for retro games on the Deck. It worked fine so far for games such as the first Gungrave, Ico, and The Giant Beauty (Simple 2000 Series - THE 大美人) but I stick to default graphic settings to prevent graphic bugs.

 

[Dojima's Dragon]

Through modding you can play PS2 games on Slim models as well. It's quite nice seeing Gt4 playing in 1080i

Is it a better alternative to getting a phat model that will end up with a ylod.

 

[Book Thief]

I found out earlier today that someone made an English translation of Maten no Soumetsu a few years ago. For those who aren't aware of it, I made a post about it you can read about here. I consider it to be one my personal favorite "Worst 16-bit JRPGs of all time." The Rom Hack even adds the greatest Quality of Life improvement you could've made without altering the gameplay: you can see how much EXP you need to level up!



Now I don't feel like I'm wasting my time while I'm grinding, and can actually get an idea of how many more monsters I need to kill in order to make progress!

That being said: I would not recommend this game to anyone outside of the most hardened of retro game masochists. This game is a total grindfest, the mechanics are poorly thought-out, and you will die so, so many times. I strongly recommend save states and scumming your way through the game, because the game's difficulty is extremely jank. And to make matters worse, because of how obscure the game is and how fresh the translation is, there is no strategy guide online outside of this 26 hour playlist.

 

[X Prime]

Okay, but surely there's some redeeming feature here aside from the music.

Also, you may be interested in this, a complete translation of Stargazers:

https://www.romhacking.net/translations/7105/

 

[el bandito loco]

I'm pretty sure my super nintendo is on its death bed rip brave soldier you've served me well my entire life.

it sucks too because I hadn't used it in awhile but I've been rearranging a room in my house to have all my old systems and shit hooked up to my parent's old living room tv from when I was a kid. I could emulate whatever but I don't really like playing old games (or non pc games in general) at my desk on my pc, and I have a nvidia shield hooked up in my bedroom I game stream and have some emulators on. but I was excited I got a couch in here, original controllers and ever drives and shit mainly for literal couch co-op. I looked em up and original consoles are sold for insane amounts online that at the moment I can't spend. sucks I left the fucker alone for 6 months ever in almost 30 years of my life and he died on me.

 

[Pissmaster]

I'm pretty sure my super nintendo is on its death bed rip brave soldier you've served me well my entire life.

it sucks too because I hadn't used it in awhile but I've been rearranging a room in my house to have all my old systems and shit hooked up to my parent's old living room tv from when I was a kid. I could emulate whatever but I don't really like playing old games (or non pc games in general) at my desk on my pc, and I have a nvidia shield hooked up in my bedroom I game stream and have some emulators on. but I was excited I got a couch in here, original controllers and ever drives and shit mainly for literal couch co-op. I looked em up and original consoles are sold for insane amounts online that at the moment I can't spend. sucks I left the fucker alone for 6 months ever in almost 30 years of my life and he died on me.

What's going on with it?

 

[el bandito loco]

What's going on with it?

from what little research I have gathered I believe it’s the PPU. it’s not booting games easily and a lot of them have weird graphical glitches noticeable on the title screens and in gameplay like parts of text in logos and shit is missing. at first I figured it might be my AV cable so I checked it with the N64 and it was fine, then thought maybe it’s my everdrive. threw in the actual Smash TV cartridge, same shit, Yoshi’s Island, DKC1/2, Zelda, most of the issues were the same between the actual cart and the everdrive. I've also seen some things like it could be a CPU or maybe some capacitors or something. I've also seen some people say it's probably just dirty on the inside. but most of what I saw on PPU going out look like a worse version of what mine is doing so I think I just caught it early. It also since I have noticed this been crashing after a few minutes of gameplay. I fucked with it off and on a couple hours earlier and most games have graphical glitches, but will play fine for about 20 minutes then just crash outright. I don't really know what it actually is because it seems like most of these have similar effects, I think the old boy just is finally worn out.

although actually there's this corporate shitty used game store my buddy used to work at near where I live, that upcharges out the ass for everything and does shit like have prices on a sticker but when it rings up it costs more because someone in their system updated games to higher ebay prices and stuff like that and I'm considering next week going up there and buying a SNES they have for the $200 or whatever they charge for it, then returning it later the same day switched out for my old one and being like well the graphics are all fucky I don't know what to tell ya and getting the money back. lol not just to steal a free snes but also so I can tell my buddy I stuck it to his old shitty job. he used to tell me all kinds of shit about how they know they're selling repros as originals for hundreds of bucks and and other stuff that, go ahead rip off a dumb fuck for not just emulating Earthbound but at the same time as a business that's unethical as fuck. they have their older consoles in these generic boxes you can't see inside so it's not like anyone working there knows what that exact snes in there looked like anyways lol he had worked there since high school and got fired after years because he was the manager and he told this dude not to buy a $300 copy of Conker's Bad Fur Day because it was a repro (apparently the sticker had the wrong picture on the label is how he knew off the bat looking at it) and some little faggot teenager he managed snitched to their regional manager about it because he was mad my friend had told him to stop constantly cursing in front of customers in there with their little kids to buy Mario and Pokemon or whatever.

 

[Girl Named Sandoz]

I'm pretty sure my super nintendo is on its death bed rip brave soldier you've served me well my entire life.

it sucks too because I hadn't used it in awhile but I've been rearranging a room in my house to have all my old systems and shit hooked up to my parent's old living room tv from when I was a kid. I could emulate whatever but I don't really like playing old games (or non pc games in general) at my desk on my pc, and I have a nvidia shield hooked up in my bedroom I game stream and have some emulators on. but I was excited I got a couch in here, original controllers and ever drives and shit mainly for literal couch co-op. I looked em up and original consoles are sold for insane amounts online that at the moment I can't spend. sucks I left the fucker alone for 6 months ever in almost 30 years of my life and he died on me.

it might be worth trying to recap it before you write it off as completely dead. you can get a recap kit for around $5, just make sure you get the correct set for the revision you have.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

More of a hardware thing, but has anyone used the 8BitDo NeoGeo pad? I'm considering it, but none of my usual go-to retrotech reviewers have reviewed it, and the people who have seem to be all over the map on it... And I don't know if it's a bad product, or it's just so different that they don't know what to expect, or what.